


Over Duty and Fried Eggs

by leezh



Series: The Grand Plan of the Palace [1]
Category: Korean Drama, The King: Eternal Monarch, 더 킹：영원의 군주 | The King: Eternal Monarch (TV)
Genre: F/M, Food, Inspired by K-Drama | Korean Drama, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24332590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leezh/pseuds/leezh
Summary: “Are you really going to just sit there and stare at me the whole time?” he finally spoke, in his deadpan manner.Seung-ah should admit that she found him funny whenever he did that. After all, she enjoyed pushing his buttons. She thought he was cute when he was flustered.-Non canon as of Episode 11. Just a snippet of the Palace interaction between the Captain of the Royal Guards and the staff of Royal Public Affairs Office. As implied by the title, nothing much happens in this, just them being them.
Relationships: Jo Yeong/Myeong Seung-ah
Series: The Grand Plan of the Palace [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1763707
Comments: 11
Kudos: 77





	Over Duty and Fried Eggs

**Author's Note:**

> Update: Now it belongs to "The Grand Plan of the Palace" Series.  
> In which the whole Palace, including the King, conspires to aid the romance between the Captain of the Royal Guards and the Staff of the Royal Public Affairs Office.

Being employed in the palace was clearly an advantage for Seung-ah. She enjoyed her job at the Royal Public Affairs Office, her colleagues were all kind and helpful, she learned a lot from them, and the bonus point was, she was able to network and befriend several strategic people in the palace. For example, the kitchen staff.

In fact, she just received a text from one of them, an exclusive tip about a certain Captain of the Royal Guards who was currently being spotted in the kitchen, presumably for a meal after finishing his duty escorting the King on a public function earlier in the day.

And so, that was where Seung-ah found Jo Yeong. He was sitting on the large table with several dishes scattered in front of him with no one else in sight. It was, after all, already way past three in the afternoon, and most of the kitchen staff should have retired to their quarters.

He had his laptop opened in front of him. As Seung-ah made her way in, she caught him rubbing his temple with one hand.

“Do you just have your meal now?” was her way of announcing her arrival. She wondered if that was how he lived, with such a disastrous eating schedule.

The Captain didn’t respond verbally. He just gave her a silent nod as his greeting, as always.

She noticed that his food was barely touched. Either he had just started or his laptop demanded his attention more.

“You should eat well, Jo _daejangnim_.” Seung-ah picked up one of the extra chopsticks and went for one of the fried eggs. She placed it gently on top of his rice bowl. “Don’t skip any meals, you need to be fit and strong to protect our country.”

Once again, he didn’t voice it, but he did give her a small smile before he took a bite.

Seung-ah made herself comfortable on the seat opposite him. He did not tell her to go away, so she assumed that the Captain didn’t mind her presence there so much.

She let him eat in peace for a while, just sitting there in silence (and marvelling at how he could make the activity of eating such everyday meals look so cool) as he turned his attention back to his laptop’s screen.

He got his troubled expression going on, though, and soon after, the Captain let out a frustrated sigh, which seemed to startle himself more than her.

“Are you really going to just sit there and stare at me the whole time?” he finally spoke, in his deadpan manner.

Seung-ah should admit that she found him funny whenever he did that. After all, she enjoyed pushing his buttons. She thought he was cute when he was flustered.

She, in return, answered him with a question on her own. “Is everything okay? There’s something troubling you?”

By then, Yeong had one of his eyebrows slightly raised, his gesture a bit more stiff. He closed his eyes ( _in frustration? Annoyance?_ ) quietly, and then, after looking like he had a hard and long debate with himself about it, the Captain finally replied, “No, it’s just... There’s a huge storm coming, and I am not much of a Liberal Arts person to face it head on.”

_Huh, what?_

To say that she was bewildered was an understatement. But before she could voice her confusion, Seung-ah looked up to see that his attention had already been diverted by something else as his free hand flew to his earpiece. “Go ahead,” he said to his left wrist, where his mouthpiece was, obviously not speaking to her but to whoever it was at the end of his comm line. 

He was silent for a while, listening intently, but his other hand had placed his chopsticks down and closed his laptop shut as he stood up from his seat.

“I’ll be there,” was all he said to his mouthpiece.

He did not offer any explanation, just gave her yet another silent nod to signal his departure, and then-

Before he could completely bolt and disappear from the kitchen, Seung-ah had mulled the idea over in her head, decided and executed in the speed of lightning. “Jo _daejangnim_!” she called him out.

Yeong just had time to turn halfway on his heels as Seung-ah tossed him something to which he then caught perfectly.

“You’ll thank me later,” was all she said with a smirk on her face.

Without stopping on his tracks to check what it was, Yeong quickly pocketed her gift and then was gone shortly after.

Seung-ah let out a sigh as she looked at the half-eaten meal and abandoned laptop. 

_Well_ , she thought, _at least he finished eating his fried egg_.

~

A while later, Jo Yeong was sitting in the car, riding shotgun as he always did, when he remembered that he hadn’t even checked what Myeong Seung-ah had tossed him earlier. Yeong pulled it out from his pocket to see that she had given him a granola bar.

A single, _certified organic, no artificial flavors or preservatives, 100% whole grains, chewy_ granola bar. Apparently she thought that many calories were enough to sustain him, a fully grown man, a soldier in active duty, nonetheless, throughout the day.

“She’s impossible,” Yeong remarked absent-mindedly, startling his subordinate, who was in charge of the driving. He was supposed to pay attention to the road and traffic lights, but a chuckle from his captain was enough to distract Ho-pil that he almost forgot to take the right turn during the intersection.

~

Later on, Seok Ho-pil wondered who the woman in question was to his colleague, In-young, over coffee break. The latter just had a knowing smirk on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is mostly an excuse to incorporate fried eggs into Jo Yeong's life.
> 
> Decided to post this to wash away my nervous anticipation of tonight's 12th episode.
> 
> Un-betaed.


End file.
